WUHAN, Feb. 21 (Xinhua) -- Although cities are the main battlefields of the ongoing novel coronavirus outbreak, China's vast rural areas are no less important to the win. More than 1.4 million rural doctors are playing a key role by safeguarding the health of rural residents.

Xing Jinhui is a doctor in Xingwei village in central China's Hubei Province, the hardest-hit province in the country. She has joined in the epidemic prevention and control for more than half a month.

However, the doctor started to experience fever symptoms a week ago.

"I was checking the temperature of the villagers one by one on Feb. 7, and I got caught in the rain. After I finished my work and returned home at night, my clothes were soaked and shoes were filled with water," Xing recalled.

She had to stop checking villagers' temperatures and health conditions in the following days. In case she got infected, she did not want to infect others.

Xing later went to the hospital in the county seat and was diagnosed as having a cold. During her isolation, she kept calling villagers returned from Wuhan, the epicenter of the outbreak and other cities, to check their health. She also launched online diagnoses through WeChat for villagers.

Xing was born in a doctors' family. During her stay at home, Xing's brother Xing Jiuhong, who works for a village clinic, continues to examine the villagers every day. Her niece and daughter who also work in the clinic provide medical services for villagers as well. Xing's husband and nephew are treating patients in two different hospitals.

The latest statistics show the total confirmed cases in Hubei had reached 62,662 by Thursday.

"There are more than 3,700 people in the village. A total of 169 returned from Wuhan, three from Huanggang and 440 villagers from other places," Xing Jiuhong said.

At the beginning of the screening, villagers were reluctant to cooperate. "It was too cold to get up in the winter morning. And villagers didn't want to be checked," Xing Jiuhong said.

"There was no public toilet in the village, and it was not convenient to use villagers' toilet in this very special time," Xing Jinhui added.

But those troubles did not defeat her.

When learning that there is a shortage of medical supplies in city hospitals, Xing and her family donated 47,000 yuan (about 6,712 U.S. dollars) and 3,000 pairs of medical gloves.

Their deeds touched many villagers and won their understanding. A retired rural doctor and a volunteer have joined with the brother and sister to check villagers' temperature.

"Thanks to the publicity and epidemic prevention and control efforts over the half month, villagers' awareness of epidemic prevention has been greatly enhanced. The elderly wear masks and wash hands carefully," said the brother.

So far, the village has not reported a single confirmed cases of novel coronavirus infection.